On October 8, Maxwell Alexandre opens his solo exhibition Sanctuary and the Shadow of its Walls at the Delfina Foundation in London, where he was resident artist in 2018. 

The exhibition transforms the exhibition space into an immersive environment, bringing together paintings newly commissioned from the Clube series, site-specific scenographies, and the and Capri pools, recurring motifs in the artist’s poetics.

The Clube series began in 2020, when Maxwell became a member of Clube de Regatas do Flamengo, located in the Gávea neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro. Since then, the artist has devoted himself to observing the club’s patrons, mostly members of Rio’s white elite, who enjoy the tranquility provided by the private space. 

By transposing his observations onto pardo paper, Maxwell incorporates the fundamental nuances of shadow found in traditional pictorial models, formulating an imagistic study that narrates the social choreography that governs the club, with a focus on landscape and portraiture. The artist starts from his position of access, which now gives him the power of representation, reversing regimes consolidated by Western art history.   

In addition to the human figures portrayed, the paintings also incorporate elements of the landscape, such as palm trees, parasols, and the red wall that delimits the space, as well as the tiled pool, which is an element that recalls both the visual codes apprehended by the artist and his childhood desires, which today have been converted into reality.   

Maxwell Alexandre: Sanctuary and the Shadow of its Walls will be on view until November 23.